John Watling

John, or George, Watling (died 1681) was a 17th-century English buccaneer. It was said that he would never plunder on the Sabbath and refused to allow his crew to play cards on this holy day.

John Watling is best known for making his headquarters on the island currently dubbed San Salvador and naming it Watling Island. It is believed to be the island Guanahani, as named by the indigenous Lucayan people, which Christopher Columbus first saw in 1492 and renamed San Salvador. This is disputed by some. In 1925, the Bahamas officially named the island San Salvador after several scholars had argued that its features best matched Columbus' description of the island he visited.

Mutiny and taking charge In 1680–1681 John Watling sailed under Captain Bartholomew Sharp aboard the Most Holy Trinity.

Legacy Watling is the namesake of John Watling's Distillery, a rum distillery in Nassau.